We Don’t Have A Difference In Political Opinion, We Have A Difference In Morality

It was the 18th school shooting in the United States in the last 45 days.*

And while the vast majority of Americans are horrified, appalled, and outraged, demanding some sort of action, any action be taken to end these sorts of unspeakable tragedies, Republican leadership in Congress just shrugs while their benefactors at the NRA and its foot soldiers go about peddling their propaganda about the supposed ineffectiveness of gun control laws and how guns aren’t the real problem, people are and what about Chicago and on and on and on they go until the next tragedy strikes and they start again about how nothing could have been done to prevent this.

Of course, all of it is a lie.

Just ask the rest of the world where mass shootings are not a weekly routine.

But this isn’t a post about gun control statistics.

It’s about the real nature of what is going on in America right now because too many of us fail to appreciate the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in.

Too many of us – particularly those who see themselves caught in the middle of two opposing political sides – see our current divisions as typical, albeit passionate political differences of opinion about how to reach more or less the same worthwhile goal of making the world a better place which we could do if we would all just sit down and talk to each other till we reached some sort of healthy compromise.

And while I agree that sitting down to talk to one another is a good, healthy, and even vital thing to do, we can’t hope to have a constructive conversation without first understanding what is really at stake: the soul of our nation.

And, no, that’s not hysterical liberal handwringing.

The simple fact of the matter is if children are slaughtered in their school and your reaction is “Don’t you dare think about taking my guns!!” rather than “How do we stop this from ever happening again??” then we don’t have a difference in political opinion.

We have a difference in morality.

Which is sadly true for some many of the issues tearing America apart right now that too often get portrayed as nothing more than politics.

There is certainly are politics at play these days and always will be, but if you believe immigrants are inherently dangerous criminals that need to be torn apart from their families and deported or kept out of our country in the first place, then we don’t have a difference in political opinion. We have a difference in morality.

If you believe the poor are poor because they’re lazy moochers who should be treated with contempt and forced to try to survive on whatever scraps are thrown their way, then we don’t have a difference in political opinion. We have a difference in morality.

If you believe refugees are a threat and should be left to drown with their children on the shores of some beach on the other side of the world, then we don’t have a difference in political opinion. We have a difference in morality.

If you think women deserved to be harassed and assaulted because of what they wear and should ridiculed and slandered for having the audacity to speak out, we don’t have a difference in political opinion. We have a difference in morality.

If you think the environment exists to be exploited and destroyed for financial gain regardless of the impact that will have on present and future generations, we don’t have a difference in political opinion. We have a difference in morality.

If you think minorities need to stop complaining about injustice and that there are “good people on both sides,” we don’t have a difference in political opinion. We have a difference in morality.

If you think entire countries are “shitholes” full of worthless people, we don’t have a difference in political opinion. We have a difference in morality.

If you think your neighbors aren’t deserving of equal rights and protection against discrimination just because of who they love or who they are, then we don’t have a difference in political opinion. We have a difference in morality.

What we are living through now is about so much more than Donald Trump or Republican versus Democrat.

What we face today is a moral crisis.

We can debate how to make the world a better, safer, more just place, but as long as that debate is about how to make the world a better, safer, more just place for some and not all, then we don’t have a difference in political opinion.